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Sitemap --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- More interesting items/ideas for BioShock Rapture MMORPG --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- - Part 20 --- --- --- Plane strange : Strange to see that tail section of Flight DF-0301 sitting outside (when you go for you little ocean stroll) of the Adonis Luxury Resort. We saw it crash thru and wedge itself in a viaduct at Welcome Center 8 years previous. Maybe those 'Tear' things are starting to infect Rapture ??? --- Rapture Family post-Lamb Strangeness : With the departure of Sofia Lamb, leaving the 'Rapture Family' cult without leadership, no doubt all kinds of aberrations likely occurred. * Splicers dressing up as Little Sisters (both male and female). * A 12 foot statue of Jack made out of rotting fish, being worshiped. * The frenzied/desperate consumption of blue butterflies and Sofia's book 'Unity & Metamorphosis' .... * A Sofia Lamb "pretender" (dressed as her, makeup, hair and glasses and annoying voice) trying to take her place as Beloved Leader (quickly beaten to death when the "pretender's" wig fell off). * Huge 'crate' men (25 foot high rough figure/shape of a man made out of those odd crates we kept opening) in which sacrificial victims are trapped and burned alive. A complete fiasco the first 'lighting' when the whole building section was smoked out by the fumes and noxious gasses that resulted. * One faction murdering another faction for not believing in 'the Lamb' with ENOUGH conviction and feeling -- and thus bringing/causing her actual downfall. The other faction declaring/denouncing her as the 'Anti-Lamb' .... * A small sub-group who wear a little 'lifeboat/escape pod' figurine around their necks who await Sofia's return. * A few of Lamb's administrative lackeys (who had been bright enough to keep their heads down) emerging from their cubbyhole shadows and seized control of various critical infrastructure (the armory, the radio/TV station, the ADAM/Food stockpile, control overrides, etc..) - and especially the farms. They loudly announced that Eleanor's "Second Coming" was imminent, and that 'all the faithful' should be calm (and orderly) and prepare to welcome her (and until that time obey her worthy disciples...) * And then there were all the truly insane things .... --- --- - Oathbreakers ?? : Were any/all of the people who came to Rapture required to take an Oath that they would be loyal to the City ?? This would be an interesting addition to the various treatments of traitors, criminals and dissenters - not just legally but also reinforcing the idea that 'they were told' so that they could not deny that "they didn't know or realize" ... There might not be many 'laws' in Rapture, but loyalty is a somewhat different thing - part of the Social Contract agreed to by the Citizens. The Workers who built Rapture - many who only worked on the surface may have been safe to let leave, because they really did not know what was going on (never saw the City). The Rapture Novel mentions that many of the underwater workers were likewise uninformed, and really did not know that much -- they worked on only parts of it and that it was simply a big 'industrial' project, (and not what it really was). Without the City Lights turned on, there would be little to see. The workers used to work on the finished interiors would have known more, and they should have been only the ones who decided to stay. The mass people who immigrated would have to know they could not leave once they decided and had arrived - and it would have been explained very clearly what kind of place they were going to. --- --- --- Part of the Rapture MMORPG still involves dealings with the surface world : * Factions still bring things in from outside (some of the more organized Splicer bosses have non-spliced/little-spliced cohorts they use to go up and get needed items). Submarines take alot of maintenance and knowhow to operate, so they are important assets to be acquired. * Independent Smuggler groups (who have the resources like working subs) deal with many of the 'stable' Factions. Of course payment is required for any trade goods (the smart smugglers stay away from surface piracy as that attracts unwanted attention and usually has unacceptable risks). * Several key technical components/materials/instruments that Tenenbaum needed to get 'the Cure' working were obtained via smugglers. Some interesting clandestine patients at 'The Clinic' may be members of some of the smuggler groups trying to rid themselves of disabilities/disfigurement brought on by previous ADAM use. A mission/quest may be 'smuggling' in/out one of these special patients. * Ryan's Rapture Faction (centered in Hephaestus) never lost touch with his Surface organization, which over the years rendered them considerable assistance. The City Council, since Hephaestus joined New Rapture, has some dealings with Ryan's old World Organization, which he had left orders to continue their work protecting Rapture and arranging assistance (secretly). --- --- --- Rapture's Environs : ' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GreenlandSeaPolarProjectionTopo.jpg Note - normal depth of the sea - pretty deep where Rapture is - good thing it is build on the side of an ancient volcano that sticks way up from that seabed level. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Surtseyan_Eruption-numbers.svg Diagram of the Island ''Surtsey a underwater volcano that grew above the surface off Iceland in 1963. The water depth on the continental shelf there is around 100 meters (~300 feet), versus the much deeper area Rapture is located in ??????? 2000-6000 feet That contour slope under the water is about 1 in 5 (around Rapture it might be similar or a bit less if it has 'settled' and eroded over millennium). http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/600/rapturebig.jpg/ The larger map showing the volcano 'sea mount' containing Rapture (largely the top half with the rest descending down to the areas deep sea floor. Rapture is located within a depression left by a collapse magma chamber of the ancient volcano. The collapse was off center and left a higher northern edge as well as a very deep chamber (the Abyss) in the center. Layers of different volcanic deposits account for some of Raptures City building patterns - with softer ash/rock layers in some places (bad for proper foundations) and good solid igneous lava flows in others. Subsequent erosion/settling formed some irregular contours. --- --- --- '''Something Fishy in the Sea : Some of the "There's Something in the Sea" materials present ridiculous sloppiness of Ryan's Organization as to disclosing project details, when there need have been none. There were various odd actions that would only cause questions and investigations (again when there needn't have been, and secrecy was so important). Leaving one of their 'sub-contractors' holding large amounts of un-paid for materials would be asking for trouble. Why even use sub-contractors that were not part (or made part) of Ryan's global empire ?? Why expose anything involved with the 'secret project' to any outsiders at all?? The vast quantities of materials, parts and machinery that Rapture needed would justify setting up entire companies to handle the misdirection. Years of transaction with sub-contractors leaves a paper-trail back to Ryan's organization anyway. The various rich people who "bought into Rapture" would have been better channels of handling the flow of Rapture's construction materials - they would be more trustworthy and the companies would be reorganized when those rich people liquidated their worldly holdings. There had to be a large cover story anyway for where these millions of tons of materials were going -- something appropriately fake that would then fail and be a total loss so that various stockholders and authorities would no longer care where the construction materials all went. Fortunately the largest portion of the City's construction materials was cement/concrete which could be supplied/made locally, else there would have been far more to have to hide. --- --- --- Those big machines seen in Smugglers Hideout : Power generators for the secret ( ssshhhhhhhhh ) criminal base - it was not a small operation -- they didn't want an unusual patterns of electricity use to give it away. Fontaine might have been able to bribe the City Constables, but the Meter Readers would have got him (just like they got Capone). Fontaine had similar equipment in place for his second 'new' smuggling operation for after his 'death'. --- --- --- Need that BS2 Multi-Player Apartment Available as a 'step up' achievement for advancing MMORPG players : That Apartment's Bathysphere has to be shared between the 3 apartments (or more if more apartments are beyond it). So where do you park any 'private' Bathyspheres or maybe that one ISN'T private (its actually equivalent to a taxi). The Apartment building complex (to be practical) would have Bathysphere water tubes at Rapture pressure (to access all the Apartment docks - dozens of units) and then a central shared airlock system (the really expensive/complex part). It was never made clear where the Apartment was located, but with (the front part of) the airplane falling into it, it might be somewhere near the Welcome Center district (near the Lighthouse). It is certainly in an affluent area. I could see it built into the Mt Ryan mountain-side, built in tiered steps - each step tier having a view of the city and open water above. Each tier would be several apartment groupings wide. There are lots of contours in the cityscape's terrain where similar 'deluxe' units might be built. A variation might be a funicular (in tunnel) connecting the stepped apartment tiers to a Trolley Transit line (down at the 600 foot depth 'Street' level). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcIziEOhehc A good example of player's imagination which could be tapped into for this MMORPG ... --- --- --- Another Industry for somewhere in Rapture - Brickworks : I've seen brick used in interior construction in many places in Rapture (actual walls, not fake surfacing). Bricks are made from clay, fired at high temperature (white hot) to fuse the minerals together. Mortar is made from Sand and Lime. I've seen tiles in even more places, and they are made largely the same way with some additional steps. Shipping heavy bricks in large quantities to Rapture would be expensive. With a fairly straight forward industrial setup, they would be made locally out of fairly common seabed materials (hydrated silicates of aluminum). There will be plenty of repairwork to do in the City and tiles are an important part of its motif (good matching of the old brick/tile work is the trick when patching). --- --- --- Art for the masses : It will be possible in many places (residences, shops, restaurants) in New Rapture to have real decorations (paintings and such) rather than so many advertisement posters. All that High-Falutin art in 'the Ruins' is there for the taking and will need proper places (like over a bars), and there's still plenty of space for the adverts (new ones) out in the streets. Half the fun will be the odd titles given to the artworks. --- --- --- Watch your footing in Bioshock 3 '''( "BioShock : Rapture Forever" ?? ) : More Rickety terrain - patched floors ready to collapse (you don't want to run across them) and some jerry-rigged catwalks and such might not hold your weight or the weight of more than one person (desirable to have NPC 'Team' members who can follow simple orders.) Safety lines might be a good idea in much of Raptures unstable structural environment. Sorry, but Indiana Jones style bullwhips don't really work that well to 'swing across' various gaps and chasms (and in slimey Rapture, tends to work even worse). --- --- --- '''Ryan Amusements - I can see why that AE Line was not overly successful/used much (What reason anyone have to go there more than once ?? El Dorado Lounge ?? You have to pay full admission to get access to it ) * Journey to the Surface was hardly 'Pirates of the Caribbean' (at least it didn't present the image of an 'A-Bombs blowing up the Surface' scene). An Animatronics scene of Bolsheviks murdering Ryan's family might have been interesting. * Needed something more friendly for the kids - like costumed characters walking around - like Sammy the Seaslug or Diver Dan ... * Attraction called 'Parasite Patrol' might have fit in (arcade type shooting gallery game -- operating in-game Mini-Games have been done inside various published games lately - usually as a parody/caricature). * Another Ride called 'This is Money' or 'Cascade of Money' (whence the bounty flows when one works hard). * "Carnival" (about a third of a mile North of Fontaine Futuristics) was much more popular and thus was connected via the convenient Metro Trolley lines. --- --- --- Raptures Utility Grid : Construction Electric/heat/water/air radiated out to the City via the 'City Mains' in a redundant network of armored/self-contained utility conduits. Some are combined into the 'street' structures, and others as stand-alone 'Utility Aqueducts'. * Walkspaces around the conduits allow easy inspection. The conduits have their own independent system of airlocks and sections and are generally sealed up pretty good.. * The Heat Conduits (geothermal heated water) are easier to insulate in air (for less loss of heat along their considerable lengths), thought they are usually quite large and also give off substantial heat (water that starts at 400 degrees F). * The Power conduits can be maintained more easily and avoid water seepage and damage (and catastrophic shorts). * The Conduit structure's concrete bulk protects all the various lines/pipes from external damaging factors (like submarines running into them). * Transitions in and out of buildings can be minimized - simplifying emergency bulkhead mechanisms. Building wall penetration points are usually weak spots and thus maintenance liabilities. * Integral Hubs and Junctions to distribute power locally (including intersecting redundant 'mains') Electric/heat/water come from Hephaestus and the other geothermal sites Air comes from the Green Belt (including Arcadia) and as backups from the Lighthouse and other near surface installations Some of the competing utility companies (ie - Hudson Power) have varying degree of similar conduit structures. Distant locations (ie- industrial sites outside Rapture City) are traversed by more minimal power/air cables. Various MMORPG missions would deal with repairs and rebuilding of the infrastructure critical to habitation of Rapture (players get to see the effects of what happens when these systems failed). --- --- --- ADAM projected Plasmid effects - some odd 'magic-like' powers really being physiological/psychological effects : Some possibly related to flashing/strobing light effects on epileptics or psychic projections (Eleanor talks to you telepathically a number of times), etc... Various Psi powers might be explained by electromagnetic transmissions projected at recipients brains. Some biological equivalent of a radio ??? ("Who knows - The Shadow Knows!!!") Otherwise, why do Bees from the Insect Swarm Plasmid attack affect a Big Daddy who is inside a sealed suit ??? Not real bees, but a psychic projection or something like them could. Teleportation - more a magicians trick than anything - why else the puff of smoke and the ringing bell ? Distractions and misdirection (add mind clouding psi stuff too) while the 'obscured' perp saunters to the new location. Telekinesis - a combination of the Teleportation type trickery and throwing stuff manually ??? ElectroBolt is a projection of electricity (electric eels for a biological example). Projecting a charged plasma ?? Incinerate! is a physical projection of superheated/burning matter (ever see a fire eater spit flames ??) BioShock is mostly a Sci-Fi genre that is based on abilities made possible by biological modification using ADAM (some of the 'cute' Plasmids/Tonics they came up with do require 'a bit of a stretch'...) Many tonics just improve your sense acuity/strength/speed/coordination and others jam the abilities of others (including machines). --- --- --- I'm Moving To Rapture : * How NOT to have a 'fire sale' on your worldly possessions/holdings, when moving to Rapture. * You can't take it all with you (but you CAN take alot of it) - possession allowances for immigrants (you pay the shipping). * Ryan's contacts interested in acquiring companies and properties that are somewhat 'discounted' (qualms?? -- if an A-bomb blew them up tomorrow, how much would they be worth then ??). Actually, 'Rapture' would be a pretty good scam - get rich dolts to sign-over their worldly goods to you, to send them to an undersea 'paradise', only they find themselves trapped there (or dumped on some island somewhere)... People WOULD naturally be incredulous and many WOULD have to have more evidence/assurances of what they were getting into (should have some MMORPG missions on this subject - Flashbacks to the early days and the 'salesjob' that was done on 20000-40000 people to get them to come to Ryan's Rapture.) * Other properties/holdings would be arranged to be held so that they could be sold off gradually (so as to recover most of their monetary value). * What good is a company without its personnel ?? How to talk employees into going to Rapture. * There just is not as large a market in Rapture as on the Surface (even with a monopoly). Reasonably sized business models and expectations. (The fear of being blown up in a nuclear war might convince some 'big businessmen' to accept a 'downsized' empire). * The Idle Rich taking refuge from 'The End of the World' -- Ryan would accept that they might not 'Pull the Great Chain' very hard, but their resources would help build Rapture to enable others that could. * Retirement to a 'safe and pleasant' place - Shady Acres retirement community (see the new Rapture map). Some of thoise fancy Hotels we see would be permanent homes to various 'rich' people who prefer the 'roomservice' lifestyle. * How to be in Rapture before the Taxman knows you are gone ???? --- --- --- An 'Automatic Gentleman' for Bioshock ''': * Not a SteamPunky robot with clawlike metal hands that can go berserk and murder you in your sleep, but a self organizing wardrobe (was that one we had in the MP Apartment ??) * Handy game interface with sets of clothing 'outfits' you can organize and define. Could include tools and equipment sets as well. * Change from your Business Clothing to your Adventuring garb with one command... A MUST for any busy Citizen of New Rapture. (The more sophisticated game mechanics has NPCs react to inappropriate behaviors and clothing -- you can go to a business meeting dressed like a clown, but don't expect them to want to do business with you.) Pretenses and posturing make a comeback with New Raptures return to 'normalcy'. --- --- --- '''All those copies of Unity and Metamorphosis : Seem to be all over in Lamb's domain (and probably wisely were made out of paper that couldn't serve as TP or for making cigarettes. Sandpaper-like would be appropriate). For Players visiting these 'Family Occupied' regions of 'the Ruins' the book pages make adequate kindling for fires and cheap patching on plaster walls. A few copies would be preserved in the City archives/research library for their historical interest (one copy for the New Museum of Insanity and Parasites)... --- --- --- Those fancy AE Traincars : I would have liked to see the interior of the Atlantic Express traincar passenger section (we saw the control cabin - that seemed to me to waste alot of space - maybe its where they also stored the stewardess cart when the AE was actually operating - at least in the Deluxe 'First Class' trains). To move multitudes of passengers around the City, the interior probably would have looked similar to your typical subway car or commuter RR/LightRail car. I wonder if rich people (Ryan/Sinclair/etc..) had their own private AE cars (would be interesting finds in the MMORPG - maybe was where Ryan hung out soon after his 'death' before he moved to 'The Bunker'). More fodder for the imaginitive Asset Creators of the game -- fancy private car (and many of them subsequently wrecked). I know why they didn't show the traincar interior in BS2 (and managed to avoid it), but in the MMORPG there would be more realistic detail (without that caricaturization). In the MMORPG we would actually be making use of them. --- --- --- Heart of Darkness : Section of Rapture with the lights are off (all broken !!) and only the Splicers can see in the dark. Morlocks lurking, and noises in the dark (which stop when you shine your light in that direction). One of those never released Plasmids - Cats Eye - that allows the user(Splicer) to see in complete darkness (and a disconcerting countenance as it gives you huge Hello Kitty cat eyes.) An interesting situational variant where most of your surroundings are unseen, so things move (sometimes quite close to you) and you never know. You are used to spotting targets in your front view at a glance, but now you have to shine your light (hopefully you have one) about with things getting in the way, clutter, mists and streams of water obscuring a clear view. Things are hurled at you out of the dark. Goons come at you out of the dark. Targets move suddenly out of your view. Very disconcerting. --- --- --- Submarine transports for Divers (workers in diver suits maybe Big Daddies if directed by Central Maintenance) : * Operator/Pilot may/should be in Pressurized cockpit unit (the 9 foot mini-subs). * Submarine units don't have to be pressurized (no airlock) for the passengers - thus lighter/simpler * Helipad like landing zones near construction project sites (some temporary work bases) and main airlocks. * Subs are also used to move equipment, construction supplies/materials and sometimes as portable cranes. * Emergency air/power/fuel supplies are usually carried (useful for a dangerous environment where things can go wrong). * MMORPG - Subs useful tool for City rebuilding and transport to 'less accessible' parts of Rapture. Numerous mission to acquire abandoned subs, spare parts, do repairs, counter Splicers who have subs, travel to remote communities, explore/prospect resources, deal with smugglers/surface agents, have sub races, and many other things. --- --- --- Why so many Vita-Chambers around Rapture (BS1/BS2) ??? : They seem to be everywhere - every nook and cranny in the middle of nowhere has one. A new Ryan Industries moneymaking product for Rapture - Health and rejuvenation (and with no consumables to replenish). Must have been at least partially operational to be placed so widely (perhaps to get the public used to seeing them and then later more features would be revealed.) Alongside the Circus of Values and EL Ammo Bandito... Made out of Ryanium ( or some cheap knock off) for durability (and with auto-locking to prevent mis-use as a port-a-potty). Sales Pitch - "Using the Vita-Chamber is like getting a good nights sleep - so you can go back to work and get even more done (and your competitors who don't are soon left behind - definitely of interest to all you competitive Rapturians"). People may need to look out for a whole new raft of negative side-effects (like the ADAM plasmids have) so it doesnt become another 'Splicer' type problem/threat for the City. Its workings may have required tying-in to a central Computer (in Central Computing?) to manage all the 'per patient' data for its more advanced abilities. The remaining Vita-Chambers will be of interest to the player for salvage, as the genetic-biotech components inside them have significant value (an intact unit even more so, though might be a bit more trouble to recover). The 'Bringing Back from Death" feature was experimental (no doubt requiring a huge amount of DNA and N-gram data for the patient to be able to accomplish that near miracle). What was done for Delta surpassed its original function/expectations and took Eleanor years of modifications to accomplish. Don't expect to see it in the MMORPG as an 'easy' justification for the players not dying. --- --- --- --- --- . .